Partial Boil - Cooling Wort w/ Top off water

Question concerning cooling of the wort,

After the partial boil is complete, would it be ok to dump the boiling wort directly into you fermenting bucket, top off with cold (pre-boiled) water and continue to cool wort with ice bath until 80F temperature had been reached?

Thanks,
Craig

I would personally be worried about pouring boiling liquid into my bucket, I'm not sure how they stand up to such heat.

At any rate it would be easier to cool that small amount of boiled liquid first, rather than to cool the entire batch all at once.

The best method would be to cold water bathe the kettle because the temp differential is the greatest at that moment. You're putting 210 degree wort into a bath of 70-85F water. You'll get quick cooling for a bit. Once you're down under 140, put some of your cold topoff into the fermenter, then pour in your wort.

Also keep in mind, all fermenter types are more thermally resistant than a metal pot. An ice batch on glass and plastic is very inefficient.

Thanks, makes sense.

My first brew I misread the steps and thought that I was supposed to dump it into the water... my second time around I kept it in the pot and things went much faster. Also, if I had been using a glass carboy things could have gotten nasty if the temperature shock had been too much.

happyvdubber said:

Question concerning cooling of the wort,

After the partial boil is complete, would it be ok to dump the boiling wort directly into you fermenting bucket, top off with cold (pre-boiled) water and continue to cool wort with ice bath until 80F temperature had been reached?

Thanks,
Craig

Click to expand...

I used to pour my icy cold top off water into my fermenter bucket then the hot wort into that (course, with glass always be careful with drastic temp changes) with out a problem...excellent way to rapidly cool the wort to pitching temps.

hot side aeration/oxidation is a debated topic. some swear it'll oxidize the wort and thus reduce stability of the beer long-term.
others say it doesn't matter.

happyvdubber said:

Question concerning cooling of the wort,

After the partial boil is complete, would it be ok to dump the boiling wort directly into you fermenting bucket, top off with cold (pre-boiled) water and continue to cool wort with ice bath until 80F temperature had been reached?

Thanks,
Craig

Click to expand...

Thats sort of what I do. I put gallons of water in the refridgerator over night - then I put 3 gallons of cold water in the fermenter, and pour the wort right in on top of it. Comes to about 80F right on the nose.

malkore said:

hot side aeration/oxidation is a debated topic.

Click to expand...

Where can I read up on this more? Or, would you care to explain the concept?

It would seem to me that since you want to cool the wort as quickly as possible (cold break) + pitch the yeast into aerated, 80F, wort; cooling the wort almost instantly via 3 gallons of cold (boiled) top off water would be benificial?

happyvdubber said:

Where can I read up on this more? Or, would you care to explain the concept?

It would seem to me that since you want to cool the wort as quickly as possible (cold break) + pitch the yeast into aerated, 80F, wort; cooling the wort almost instantly via 3 gallons of cold (boiled) top off water would be benificial?

Click to expand...

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=34157&page=3

Thanks for the link. I read the 4 pages. Your beer looks fantastic!

HSA looks to me like a pre-boil/post mashing/AG problem and not so much an extract brewing "issue". However, I will take care not to splash the wort too much when pouring into the fermentor.

Thanks,
Craig

happyvdubber said:

Thanks for the link. I read the 4 pages. Your beer looks fantastic!

HSA looks to me like a pre-boil/post mashing/AG problem and not so much an extract brewing "issue". However, I will take care not to splash the wort too much when pouring into the fermentor.

Thanks,
Craig

Click to expand...

Thanks! I bottled that batch the weekend before last (and the IPA this past weekend) and both taste fantastic. Sounds like you are on the right track. I have brewed numerous extract/pm batches with chilled top off water and never experienced a problem.